BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Megan Boswell appeared for a sentencing hearing on Friday.

The first individual who testified on Friday was Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy. He explained that the sheriff’s office was the initial agency involved once Evelyn Boswell was reported missing. Soon after her disappearance was reported, an AMBER Alert was issued.

Sheriff Cassidy noted that his investigators worked tirelessly for approximately 18 days on the case, dedicating about 740 hours of labor. The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) sought help from regional, state, and federal agencies throughout the investigation.

Cassidy mentioned that had Boswell been truthful from the outset, the search for Evelyn and the investigation process would have been different.

He also shared with the court that the community was eager to assist, offering food for the investigators. Cassidy concluded his testimony without facing any cross-examination.

Following his testimony, SCSO Lt. Matt Price took the stand. Price was presented with a series of photographs used as evidence, including images of Evelyn’s body when it was discovered in a trash can and one of the last known photos of Evelyn while she was still alive.

Price was released as a witness.

Boswell herself then took the stand and said the State of Tennessee had treated her unfairly throughout the investigation and trial.

Boswell asserted that if she had received a fair trial and an impartial jury, the outcome would have been her acquittal. She maintained that she could never harm Evelyn and denied any involvement in her death.

Deputy District Attorney William Harper told the court that the state was still seeking enhanced sentencing and wanted Boswell to serve her sentences consecutively, with the sentences from all other charges being served after her life sentence from the murder conviction.

Harper said Boswell’s treatment of Evelyn’s body, which was found compressed in a trash can, was a factor to consider, and the fact that Boswell was the mother of the victim should be weighed.

He also told Judge Jim Goodwin that Boswell’s behavior after Evelyn’s death should be taken into account, stating that she went on trips afterward and never reported Evelyn missing.

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Megan Boswell, the Sullivan County woman convicted of the murder of her toddler daughter, is set to be sentenced on Friday.

News Channel 11 will stream the hearing live on WJHL.com and WJHL+.

Boswell was found guilty on 19 charges in the death of her daughter, Evelyn Boswell. A jury found her guilty in February on all counts, including three counts of first-degree murder.

The jury also sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole on the murder charges.

Friday’s sentencing hearing will determine if Boswell’s other charges will be merged and how they will be served. The hearing was initially set for May 22, 2025, but it was rescheduled.

The sentencing hearing will address the following charges Boswell was found guilty of:

• Aggravated child abuse
• Aggravated child neglect
• Tampering with evidence
• 11 counts of false report
• Abuse of a corpse
• Failure to report a death under suspicious, unusual or unnatural circumstances

The Second Judicial District Attorney General’s Office filed documents in April seeking enhanced sentencing. The state hopes to see Boswell’s other charges result in a back-to-back sentence to her murder life sentence, which would keep her in prison for the rest of her life.

Boswell’s attorney, Gene Scott, opposed that request. He told News Channel 11 that enhanced sentencing would go against what the jury decided in her sentencing trial. Scott said if Boswell were able to serve time for her other charges during her life sentence, she would be released when she is around 69 years old.

Boswell’s murder conviction could have resulted in a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but the jury decided to grant that possibility after a sentencing trial that took place immediately after her criminal trial.

During the February sentencing trial, jurors heard testimony from Boswell’s mother, grandmother and foster mother.